Gary Oldman says ‘Harry Potter’ movies ‘saved’ him — here’s why

He’s siriusly grateful.  

Gary Oldman, who starred as Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” franchise, said that the movies “saved” him as a new single father.

On Thursday’s appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” to promote his AppleTV+ series, “Slow Horses,” Oldman, 65 – who is father to sons Alfie, Gulliver, and Charlie and step-son William – said that he was cast in the “Harry Potter” movies shortly after divorcing his ex-wife, Donya Fiorentino, in 2001.

“At 42 years old, I woke up divorced and I had custody of these boys and so that, in itself, was hard because there was a shift in the industry where a lot of productions were being [filmed in], it was Hungary, Budapest, Prague, Australia, you know, all of these places,” he told Drew Barrymore, 48.

Barrymore interjected to explain that global filming locations shifted because of “tax reasons.” 

As a result, Oldman said he “turned down a lot of work” in order to be with his children.

“Thank God for ‘Harry Potter,’” he said.

“I tell you, the two — ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter’ — really they saved me, because it meant that I could do the least amount of work for the most amount of money and then be home with the kids.”

Oldman played Sirius Black, Harry Potter’s wrongfully imprisoned godfather, in 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” before Sirius was killed. 

The “Batman” he referred to was Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” trilogy, where he played Gotham City Police Department Commissioner Jim Gordon. 

He said he flew back and forth from Los Angeles 27 times to be with his children during his off days from “The Dark Knight” trilogy. 

“I’d fly in for a day, I’d do a shoot a day,” he said. “To [Nolan’s] credit, he stayed on schedule and I would go home for three days, come back for two, go home for a weekend, come back for one day… otherwise, I just felt they’re being brought up by a nanny.”

In addition to Fiorentino, Oldman has previously been married to “The Crown” actress Lesley Manville, Uma Thurman, Alexandra Edenborough, and his fifth and current wife, Gisele Schmidt.

His three children are Alfie, 35  (with Lesley Manville); Gulliver, 26, and Charlie, 24, (with Donya Fiorentino, sister of “Men in Black” actress  Linda Fiorentino), and stepson William, 13 (who is his current wife’s son). 

He admitted he was “not there at all” for his first son, Alfie, and wanted to change that for his other children. 

“I got the opportunity to have these other two kids and I thought, ‘I can’t. I’ve now been given a real gift to be the dad I imagined I could be with the first boy, Alfie, and so I’ve got a chance to repair this and switch it around.’”

He went on to say that his “biggest accomplishment” as a parent is that, “My kids are not geniuses, but they’re really, really nice people,” he said. 

“I think [that we need] more nice people in the world. We’ve got geniuses, we’ve done enough of them. We need really kind people. Good heart and not mean-spirited.”

“I think they saved my life.”